FanHouse JerrySloan

Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.

Carmelo Anthony has often been criticized for his failure to the lead the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs in five tries, but that's simply unfair. Truth be told, Denver's history of early exits began long before Anthony even entered high school, let alone became the Nuggets' whipping boy.

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The Lakers came into Sunday's game with the Jazz as the prohibitive favorites, expected not only to win the game but to dominate the entire series. For the first 24 minutes on Sunday, that's exactly what happened: the Lakers held a 62-40 advantage heading into the half, with the Jazz looking like they were making a case for the league to adopt a mercy rule.

The Lakers eased up in the second half, allowing the Jazz to almost -- almost -- make a game of it, making up nine points in the third before playing to a draw in the fourth. The end result was still a lopsided 113-100 win that had the Staples Center crowd more concerned about free tacos (they didn't get any) than the final score, but still, the visitors proved (at least to themselves) that they can hang with the league's golden team for stretches at a time.

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NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

-- "Shaquille O'Neal didn't just stay an extra day in Dallas because, as he claims, he wanted to visit the Grassy Knoll. We're told the Suns legendary center also stayed behind because he thinks all the grass in Dallas might be greener – and that he is angling with Mavs owner Mark Cuban for an offseason trade to Big D." -- Mike Fisher, DallasBasketball.com

Denver's George Karl had an interesting claim in a Chris Tomasson Pro Basketball News piece on his theory as to why the Jazz dominate in Utah and stink the road: home cooking. The idea would be that the raucous Energy Solutions Arena mixed with Jerry Sloan's intimidating bark might serve to push refs toward calling a Utah-style game in S.L.C., while different circumstances lend to different results elsewhere.

Does the whistle explain Utah's home court advantage?

So, it looks as if Michael Jordan, John Stockton, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan and Vivien Stringer are going to make it into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to 'em.

But every time I hear of a Basketball Hall of Fame vote, I actually get annoyed. I don't want to get annoyed, but I get annoyed.

I'd like nothing more than to stroll down memory lane, reliving some of the good times of the past. Maybe even have an argument or two over who deserved to get in and who didn't.

Utah forward Carlos Boozer has been back a month now, but apparently Jerry Sloan still isn't comfortable depending on the burly bruiser as he has in past years. The Salt Lake Tribune notes that despite Boozer's 14 points and 10 rebounds, Sloan relied on Paul Millsap for the entirety of Saturday's overtime period against Phoenix.

Boozer has been completely supportive of Millsap on the court and in the media. But in this latest stretch -- and especially after Saturday's game -- Boozer wants to make sure we all know he'd prefer to be on the court in the most important minutes.

PHOENIX -- We've been telling you about NBA players and Twitter for a while now -- you know, because we're just that cutting edge. But only recently has the phenomenon made it's way into the mainstream media, thanks to a head coach being less than thrilled with the idea of one of his players filing updates during halftime.

More and more coaches are being asked about it, and not surprisingly, the response is varying degrees of the following: they just don't get it.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

Depending on your interior biases, the Utah Jazz either represent a flimsy facade waiting to be knocked over or the last gasp of insurgent power willing to make the Western Conference playoffs compelling.

As always, the truth falls somewhere in the middle. The public consensus, however, has cast Utah as more bit player than force to be reckoned with. But mis-measuring the Jazz as a Western also-ran is a huge mistake.

Larry H. Miller, the owner of the Utah Jazz, passed away Friday at the age of 64 after a long battle with diabetes. Miller had been confined to a wheelchair for some time, and just a few weeks ago had both legs amputated below the knees.

The Jazz owner is survived by his wife Gail. Miller was a somewhat controversial figure in Utah, as a result of both actions relating to the basketball team and beliefs away from the arena of sports.

As the large print above would indicate, the list of finalists for 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame is filled with huge name no-brainers. (That is not a commentary on any recent Bobcats moves.) The NBA released the list today; the finalists will be formally presented on All-Star Friday this week in Phoenix. (UPDATE: The NBA release didn't exactly name the finalists -- it mentioned everyone who is likely to be a finalist in order to drum up interest in the official unveiling Friday.)

Michael Jordan's induction is the easiest vote of all-time; if any joker leaves him off to make a point or the headlines, his head will be served up for dessert at MJ's Hall ceremony. I figure the same can be said for David Robinson and John Stockton, but people with quills often take idiotic stances surprise me.